P13231: UAV Ground-station Project Review

Team Members:

Aurora Kiehl (ME) Scott Nueman (EE) Jeremie Snyder (EE)

Dennis Vega (CE) Stephen Wess (ME)

Guide:

Dr. Jason Kolodziej

Project Overview • A continuation of past UAV projects

– Produce a proof-of-concept test bed for testing of future developments

• Goals

– Autonomous flight via user input GPS waypoints

– Receive and log flight data from plane

– Initiate and detect seeded faults from ground

– Capture aerial images and live video

Function Tree

Autopilot System

• Open Source, allows for automated flight via GPS waypoints. Multiple Flight Modes are possible.

• Includes instruments for measuring roll, pitch, yaw, altitude, ground speed, and (with pitot tube) airspeed.

• Collects measurements at 10Hz or 50Hz, and GPS at 5Hz.

• 4MB of onboard flash memory.

ArduPilot Telemetry

• Data collected in flight is streamed real-time to ground • Stored in “tlog” files on the ground • Also stored on ArduPilot memory at higher sample rate

First Person Video System

Aerial Imagery System

• GoPro Hero 3 Silver chosen for still imagery.

• ArduPilot code outputs sequence of highs and lows in order to take image.

• Time-lapse mode used before ArduPilot code was made functional.

Aerial Imagery System

GoPro Mounting Location

Faults

• Simulate hole in wing lift surface. • Damaged rudder. • Aileron power loss.

Accelerometers

• Represent proof-of-concept health monitoring system

• ± 6g Range

Accelerometers

• Shake table test

Testing & Results • ArduPilot

– Data collection and storage: Successful

– Automated flight capabilities: Under Investigation

• Accelerometers & Data Storage – Shake table test: Successful

• Seeded Faults – Ground test of fault initiation: Successful

– Test of fault detection system: Pending

• FPV System – Video capture and heads-up display: Successful

– Video recording systems: Successful

• Aerial Imagery System – GoPro mounting scheme: Successful

– Integrated control through ArduPilot: Pending

Budget

• Proposed Budget: $987

• Actual Spent: $1420

Project Outcome Evaluation • Customer Needs Met

– Fight data acquisition, display, and storage

– Video capture and associated data display

– Accelerometer data storage

– Ability to seed faults

• Customer Needs Still to be Met and Verified

– Automated flight via GPS waypoints

– Aerial imagery remote capture

– Seeded Fault detection and display to user

Future Work

• Integrate test bed on larger airframe

• Develop sophisticated health monitoring system

– Select higher quality sensors

– Investigate optimal sensor locations

• Investigate integrating imaging system developed by the Imaging Science Center with ArduPilot

• Perform flight tests to fully vet the autopilot mode

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to Phil Nguyen for volunteering his time to serve as the team pilot

• Thanks to team guide Dr. Kolodziej for his support throughout the past two quarters

• Thanks to Dr. Becker-Gomez for providing feedback at design reviews